And I don’t mean the weather. Although it is going up into the 70s here.

I’m referring to the rank of The Girls Next Door episode guide on Amazon. It’s been as high as number 116 on the sales chart thanks, in large part, to the book being seen on the show itself last week in the episode “Glued to the Sets.”

Not that we writers pay any attention to the ranking system on Amazon or Barnes & Noble’s website (where the book has been as high as 34!!!) Nope. Don’t care about those things at all.

But it is a nice way to end the year.

(Oh, I was supposed to be in that episode too, but I mercifully wound up on the cutting room floor. Seriously. MAJOR sigh of relief. Although it was fun being filmed for a reality show. Even though Holly poured a heaping handful of Booberry cereal into my hands as soon as I walked in the dining room. Who wants Booberry cereal in their teeth when they’re being filmed? And when did my life reach a point where I would be worried about cereal in my teeth when I’m being filmed for a reality show at the Playboy Mansion? Sur. Real.)

Of course, The Girls Next Door episode guide is available in actual bookstores as well as the virtual ones. In case anyone’s looking for something to spend those gift cards on.

I’ve subscribed to TV Guide pretty much my entire adult life. From just about the moment I moved out of my parents’ house, I had a subscription, which should be no shock considering how much I love television.

TV Guide has changed dramatically over the years. From the format to the content, it is a very different publication from the one I used to read at my grandparents’ house. (At my house, we relied on the free one that came in the Sunday paper.) Current technology has pretty much rendered the TV listings as superfluous. So, after much deliberation, I decided to let my subscription run out.

This was the first week in the past fifteen years that I did not receive my regularly scheduled issue of TV Guide. And wouldn’t you know that this is the week that I’M IN THE DARN MAGAZINE!!!!!!!

I mean, seriously! You can’t write this stuff. It’s just too big a coincidence. I wasn’t in last week’s issue. I’m not in the following week’s issue. No. I’m in the very first issue that I no longer get as a subscriber.

The sound you now hear is my head pounding on my desk. I have to go out and buy it at the full cover price because I’M IN IT!

Okay, “I’m” not actually in the issue, but my next book is. The magazine is highlighting upcoming celebrity books in time for the holiday season and they’ve got a shot of The Girls Next Door episode guide with a brief description. And my name. In bold print. It’s in the issue with Christina Applegate on the cover. So, check it out … or just go on Amazon.com and look at the cover there. It cute. And kind of a little dirty.

I know, it’s been a while. So much has been going on this past month(s) that I’ve hardly had a moment to stop by here. But I promise an update soon to fill you in on all the fun stuff that’s been going on in my life. Until then, I’ll leave you with this…

One of the reasons I’ve been MIA is because I’ve been busy blogging elsewhere. Yes. I’m cheating on my own blog. And I am properly shamed. BUT … Pulse Blogfest is an unprecedented marathon blogging event taking place over the next two weeks. Over 100 of Simon & Schuster’s young adult authors—including Judy Blume, Scott Westerfeld, Holly Black, and a whole lot of other names I could drop—will be sharing their thoughts on a wide range of topics in response to reader questions. And, I’m sorry, but would you pass up a chance to electronically rub shoulders with Judy Blume? Thought not. So come visit me over here (or here) through the 27th.

But keep checking back here as I’m planning an update soon(er or later).

TTFN!

Okay. Actually, the winning began five days ago. I would have mentioned it sooner, but I was once again visiting a black hole of dial-up connection where trying to put up a post is a Herculean task. (Actually, it’s not that bad. I just like the word “Herculean.”)

This month at TeensReadToo.com, you can enter to win “(Nearly) 30 Books a Day in (Almost) 30 Days!” My publisher has partnered with the website to give away FIVE copies of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies EVERY SINGLE DAY during the month of February. That’s 145 free books just there for the taking!! If you haven’t picked up your copy of Love, Hollywood Style now’s your chance to win it for free. Well, not now now, but tomorrow. My book is the prize for February 7 and February 28, but you only have to be entered once for the entire month of winning. So go now! No wait. Go later. Now, I have one more thing to talk about…

First Kiss, Then Tell—the collection of first kiss stories I have a piece in—has had some very nice things said about it in the reviews. My piece, “Improvisation,” has been mentioned or briefly referenced in several of them. Here’s a chopped up excerpt from one of the most … interesting?

From School Library Journal:
In this entertaining collection, the contributors’ experiences range from the sublime to the hilarious, and they are related through essays, poems, a play, a his-and-her version of events, and two comic strips. Cecil Castelucci’s story of secret kisses with a “bad boy” is one of the most intriguing, while Amy Kim Ganter’s artistic rendering of her “third first kiss” with her future husband is romantic … David Levithan writes touchingly of a kiss between boys rehearsing a Shakespeare scene, while Jon Scieszka amusingly relates how his first kiss finally came about…

Now, I have been called many names in my life. Some nice. Some not-so-nice. But I can honestly say that I have never been called David Levithan before. Then again, if I’m going to be mistaken for another author, that’s a darn good one to choose. Mr. Levithan also has a story in the collection. It’s told as a graphic novel with drawings by Nick Eliopulos. The story is also quite touching, but there’s nary a Shakespeare scene to be found.

Oh, well. Honest mistake. Still, the review doesn’t hold a candle to what Booklist said about Everyone’s a Critic and how my writing “…go[es] down as easily as a Starbucks latte.” That’s going to be my favorite soundbite for a while. Get used to reading it around here.

If you’ll excuse me, I have to go to Starbucks to get some work done.

Okay. Now, you can go enter the contest.

Who needs the Golden Globes when you have the American Library Association Mid-Winter Meeting? Last weekend (I know, I know. I’m a bit behind on this post), while Hollywoodites were huddled around their TV sets to watch a press conference announcing the winners of the Globes, librarians from across the country were gathering in my hometown (Yo, Philly!) for a considerably more glamorous affair. You know … Considering … Press Conference.

During the ALA Meeting, The Young Adult Library Services Association chose Rainbow Party as one of the titles on the 2008 list of Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. (Yes, the book came out in 2005. The themes on the list change annually. Just go with it.) And the best, best, BEST part is it puts me on a list alongside some of my faves: Meg Cabot, Bret Hartinger, David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, and the one, the only Judy Blume.

Did I mention JUDY BLUME!?!

For the full list go here!

But wait! Those wacky librarians didn’t stop there. In this month’s issue of Booklist (the magazine of the American Library Association) they’ve included a nice review of Everyone’s a Critic. Here’s an excerpt:

…Wry, sensitive, and sitting comfortably in the closet, Bryan makes an engaging narrator, whose takes on privileged classmates, the la-la-land setting, the craft of acting, and his own emotional highs and lows go down as easily as a Starbucks latte. By the final scene he and his circle have played hard, worked hard, done their best, and developed a bit more self-awareness…

This the first time my writing has ever been compared to a coffee drink. Well, the first time that I know of. Personally, I would have preferred if the critic had said it was like a White Chocolate Mocha with extra whip, but I’ll take what I can get.

Thanks, librarians!

Looks like I’ve gone and disappeared from my own blog again. But I do have a good excuse. Actually, a couple good excuses. I was, once again, in the wonderfully awful position of having deadlines backing up against each other. All the work is a good thing. All the people expecting stuff from me in a timely manner? Not so good.

The most important among those deadlines was turning in the manuscript for DRAMA! Book 3: Show, Don’t Tell (unless my editor on another project is reading this and, of course, that was the most important deadline). Now, the thing about deadlines is they’re kind of like potato chips. You can’t just have one. Only a few weeks after I turned in Show, Don’t Tell, my editor returned it to me all marked up with edits and a new deadline … Of yesterday … Which I met. Yay, me! Now, I’m starting work on Book 4, Entrances and Exits, but I’ve got some time before that one is due.

Getting notes on a manuscript is another wonderfully awful thing about being a writer. I clearly turned in the best piece of writing in the world when I sent in the manuscript the first time. How could there possibly be anything to change? Every word is gold. Fool’s Gold, but gold nonetheless.

Even worse than getting notes is getting good notes. You see, when an editor gives you bad notes with comments that make no sense, questions that are just plain silly … those you can simply ignore. Well, okay, you can’t ignore them, but you can debate them. But when you get good notes, when all the edits are totally understandable and obvious, well, you kind of feel like an idiot. Like, “Why in the world didn’t I notice that in the first place?”

My notes were of the good variety. The really good variety. The “I couldn’t argue with any of them” variety. Not a one. Which is kind of annoying when you think about it. And I’m not just saying that to suck up to my editor. (Particularly since I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have time to be reading my silly little blog.) Thankfully, the notes were fairly minor and now the book is absolutely perfect … until the copyeditor says otherwise … and I get another deadline.

Meanwhile, in random business…

Check out my latest post at the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies site for some tips on how to survive the holiday shopping season. (You’re probably going to have to scroll down to November 27 to read it.)

Speaking of links … if you’re bored, here’s an interview with me for Bones: The Official Companion.

And, finally, congratulations to Kristi and Lauren! They both won copies of DRAMA! The Four Dorothys and Everyone’s a Critic in the monthly book contest hosted by teensreadtoo.com. Check out the site every month for more contests with a variety of authors. I’m sure I’ll be doing more with them in the future.

I promise to try to blog more before the year ends. (Notice how I promised “to try” rather than promised “to.”)

Until then … have a Happy Holiday Season!

Those magical folks over at TheCharmedOnes.com have posted a review of my latest Charmed book, Leo Rising. They’ve always been quite kind toward my books over there, but this one is particularly nice. And on top of that, they went and did a new interview with me. You can check it out here.

But, let me back up to the review for a moment. When you get to the end, you’ll notice the reviewer points out a bit of a boo-boo with the book. It seems that pages 130 & 131 have taken it upon themselves to switch places. I kind of understand how they feel. I don’t always like the natural order of things myself, but it does make it a little harder to read the book. Thankfully, it’s only those two pages, so now when you finish up page 129 and turn the page, you should look on the right to page 131 to continue. Then when you get done with 131, drift on over to the left and read page 130. THEN you can turn the page and continue the book on page 132.

I really don’t know how something like this happens. Those pages were perfectly fine when I saw the layout of the book. Could be the work of gremlins, I suppose. Guess some people haven’t learned that you never ever feed them after midnight! Either way, I’d like to apologize on behalf everyone involved in the project. Hopefully, the little flip-flop shouldn’t take too much out of your enjoyment of the book.

Personally, I always liked those Choose Your Own Adventure books, so maybe we can call this a retro shout-out and have some fun with it.

Even though it’s (almost) summer and original TV programming is mostly gone for the next few months, there’s still a lot of interesting news about some of my favorite shows coming out. Let’s start with the self-serving.

Check out issue #4 of the official Prison Break magazine (the one with Sara and Michael on the cover) for an article on my latest book Prison Break: The Classified FBI Files.

Also, there’s an interview with me about my upcoming book Bones: The Official Episode Guide (for Seasons 1&2) in the final issue of the official Buffy, The Vampire Slayer / Angel magazine. I think it’s fitting that I would appear in the last issue of this magazine as it was Buffy, The Vampire Slayer that got me started as a writer. The first professional gig I ever had was a short story in the Buffy anthology, How I Survived My Summer Vacation Vol. 1 (oddly … there never was a volume 2). The story was about a vampiric theatre group … not to be confused with the soul sucking rich kids from Orion Academy in DRAMA!

Now, onto the non-me related TV news…
(more…)

There’s a really great website devoted to books for teens and young adults called TeensReadToo.com that’s totally worth checking out for all the latest releases and fun book contests and free stuff. Aside from the site’s general greatness, you can also go there to check out this interview they did with me to celebrate the release of DRAMA! The Four Dorothys.

Please don’t ask me about the crazy sunflowers on the interview page. I had nothing to do with it. They are cheery, though … which would only go to prove that I was not involved in the decision if you understood my usual disposition.